Playoff Breakdown: Turd Quarter, No More; Miami Heat Dominate in the Third

Once upon a time, the Miami Heat would have lost this 9 out of 10 times. Everyone knew what was coming after the first half — it was the turd quarter. Even in the last two playoffs, the third quarter was always one of their worst. That has not been the case in the playoffs, as the Heat are number in net rating in the third quarter with a plus 31.1. And this was the story of the game.

The Heat needed to come out strong after falling down by eight points to the Boston Celtics. They ended up having an 83.9 net rating in the third quarter and their defensive rating was 50.0!

Now, you may think that an eight-point lead isn’t that bad, but it was how the Celtics got that lead.

They scored 42 points in the paint, which is the main thing that the Heat’s defense is trying to prevent. This would have been the highest points in the paint allowed in a half during the regular season and the playoffs. They followed that up by allowing only six points in the paint, which would have been the lowest allowed in the playoffs and tied for the first lowest in the regular season.

On the other end of the floor, this was a Jimmy Butler game. Butler is that guy. He finished the game with 41 points on 12-for-19 shooting, nine rebounds, five assists, four steals, and three blocks. If he managed to get one more block and two more steals, this would have been the highest-scoring game with a 5x5.

Offensive Breakdown:

One of the key things in this series was how were the Heat going to score. Granted, this game was without both Al Horford and Marcus Smart, so some of the defensive game plan this game won’t apply as much for the rest of the series.

The thing that stood out was how they defended Tyler Herro.

In the first clip, you see Robert Williams III in a drop against a Bam Adebayo and Herro pick-and-roll (PnR). That gives Herro a lot of space for him to pull up beyond the arc. The Celtics adjusted on the PnR.

The pick was set way higher up and set more on the side of the court. Williams is still in a drop, but because you got to respect Herro’s shooting, he steps up to take away the shot. And he kind of drags it out to the side, rather than going straight to the middle. This opens up a lot of room for Adebayo to roll. This is the same thing that happened in the third clip.

There was one concern with the players on the court when this PnR happens.

Here, Herro goes into a handoff with Adebayo. The defense is the same but there is only one difference here. Pay attention to what Tatum is doing. The Celtics switched the screen that Victor Oladipo was setting for Herro. This allows Tatum to be helping on the weak side. He completely disregarded Oladipo in that entire play. There was zero respect to guard him, which lets him help in the paint to prevent a pass to Adebayo.

Another key play involves slips and rolls, especially when the Celtics switch.

Using Butler as a screener is a must. He is one of the best guys to slip and make the decision on that roll. Here, he quickly slips and rolls to the basket. And this is when the spacing concerns occur again. Caleb Martin is in the corner and Williams III helps off entirely from him to stop Butler. The issue is when Butler kicks it out and Martin doesn’t shoot. This action created a good look that lead to nothing.

If it’s not Butler slipping, then it has to be PJ Tucker.

Tucker as a playmaker on that short roll has been great. Herro gets an aggressive defense on that PnR, which opens up a slip for Tucker, but it was Tucker’s quick reaction to make that read to Dewayne Dedmon that was impressive.

Lastly, this was a solid play design that stood out.

It starts with Herro having the ball with Butler and Martin at the elbows. As soon as Herro passes it to Butler, he gets a flare screen from Martin. Daniel Theis is dropping deep, and if it wasn’t for Derrick White’s great screen navigation, that could have been a wide-open 3. Unfortunately, this play ended in a turnover because White was able to recover and with Theis taking away the drive, but this could have been solved with a kick out to Martin.

Defensive Breakdown:

The Celtics got to the rim at will and one thing that made it easier for them is by having one of Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown one pass away.

Having a reliable shooter one pass away on the wing makes the decision to help at the nail more difficult. Do you help off a shooter to provide more help at the nail but give up a potential kick? Or do you stay with the shooters and only provide a soft dig/stunt, and make it easier for the player to drive.

Depending on the shooter that is one pass away makes a difference.

Here, the Celtics have Grant Williams on the wing, which makes the decision to help at the nail easier for Max Strus. He is able to play off of him and provide more help on Tatum’s drive and cause a turnover.

Finally, there was some defense from Herro in PnR that stood out and the counter from the Celtics.

Here, Tatum tries to get Herro switched onto him, but he makes a good play to show and recover back to Payton Pritchard. This allows Butler to recover onto Tatum and have Herro stunt at him at the nail.

On the next possession, the Celtics counter this by having Pritchard slip toward the rim rather than pop to the perimeter. You can also see a difference in the way he set the screen here. It looks like he’s setting the pick at a different angle because he already has the intention to slip early. Herro again shows, but before he is able to recover, Pritchard is already around the free-throw line and ready to get to the rim. Adebayo stunts from the corner, and Gabe Vincent rotates to help, but this allows Theis to cut for a layup.